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Hunger Strike force
Project W.I.N. Reaches Virginia's Inner City Youth & Parents
Trays of cookies and fresh cut vegetables are on the table. Which item does your hand pick up first? Virginia children that have gone through Project W.I.N. (Winning Is Nutrition) and the Jump Start Your Heart curriculum, go for the veggies!
OBI's Pam Erickson sought to develop a fun way for at-risk children to learn easy and healthy nutritional habits by using the food guide pyramid. Lynn Zotzmann from Virginia Beach's Reaching Our Communities, Inc. agreed to facilitate the program, and Pam's vision became reality in 1997. Classes quickly began having waiting lists, and an alternate curriculum was developed for interested mothers.
Drawing individuals living in at-risk communities together is difficult, but Project W.I.N. and Jump Start Your Heart is doing it! More than 100 students have gone through the OBI funded 6-week program! Children come once a week and learn about grains, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, protein, and fats. The less than 2-hour meeting is jam-packed with devotions, review time, a lesson, discussion, activities to enhance the lesson, and exercise. Students are given samples of the topic food group to taste and make their own nutritional snack. In the adult classes, mothers learn lessons in basic nutrition and health. "This is the most effective way of opening a neighborhood up to the Gospel," comments Lynn. "It meets spiritual, physical, and relational needs of both mothers and children." All arms are filled with a free bag of groceries to take home after each class.
The crackers that "Joshua" found in his bag of groceries one week caused much excitement. When asked what was so special about crackers, the 8-year-old exclaimed, "You don't have to cook crackers!" For two weeks he and his family had been knocking on the doors in a local trailer park and staying with whomever would let them in. Joshua knew his family could eat the crackers easily. Community volunteers assisted Joshua's mother in finding a job and the family a new home.
During a recent session, some children were waiting outside the door, hoping to get into the already full class. Help at-risk children taste and learn about nutritious foods for the first time by doing two things:
- Volunteer to help with September's early evening class to be held in the Wedgewood Trailer Park community of Virginia Beach. Volunteers skilled in leading children's exercises and creative with nutritious food ideas are needed. Please call Reaching Our Communities, Inc. at 718-9046 for more information.
- Continue to support OBI's many programs benefiting those in need.
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